Two Saudia Units Participate at MEBAA

Two subsidiaries of Saudi Arabia's national flag carrier Saudia—VIP charter, management, and FBO arm Saudia Private Aviation (SPA) and MRO Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI)—are participating this week at MEBAA 2022.

SPA runs the largest private aviation terminal/FBO in the kingdom and offers ad hoc access to the mother company’s fleet for charter opportunities—a strategy CEO Fahad Al Jarboa explained in 2019. He told AIN that it expects to take delivery of an Embraer Praetor 500 next year, with an option on a second.

SAEI is engaged in constructing a massive new facility at Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport, where in excess of 10 new hangars, some of them capable of handling up to four widebody aircraft at one time, This will increase the capacity available to the flag carrier as the tourism industry and hajj sector gain momentum. Saudia’s fleet now comprises in excess of 150 aircraft.

SAEI’s v-p, transformation and shared services, Capt. Majed Sabbagh, and the head of commercial affairs, Marc Karim, participated in sessions on Wednesday to address achieving cost efficiency through preventive and predictive aircraft maintenance, as well as the impact of eVTOL aircraft on the aviation system, especially as the industry aims at environmental sustainability.

Saudia recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Lilium to become the first airline in the Middle East and North Africa region to purchase eVTOLs from the German company. It ordered 100 of the aircraft.